Another Dodgers' starter pulls victory out of thin air

July 6, 2014

Updated 9:47 p.m.

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The Dodgers' Matt Kemp hits an RBI-single in the fifth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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The Dodgers' Josh Beckett, front, slides safely into third base, advancing on a single by Dee Gordon as Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Areando fields the throw in the fifth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, back, argues for a call with home plate upire Jeff Kellogg in the third inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp catches ball off bat of Colorado Rockies leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon in the first inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Jim Downing, a 101-year-old World War II veteran from Colorado Springs, Colo., throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the Colorado Rockies played host to the Dodgers on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon, left, celebrates with left fielder Matt Kemp after their 8-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Colorado Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario, front, applies tag as the Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez slides safley across home plate to score on a ground ball hit by Juan Uribe in the fifth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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The Dodgers' Josh Beckett, left, congratulates Dee Gordon after the pair scored on a single by Adrain Gonzalez in the fifth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

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Colorado second baseman DJ LeMahieu makes a throw to first from his knees for the second out of the eighth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies 8-2. JUSTIN EDMONDS, GETTY IMAGES

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Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp hits an RBI single during the eighth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. JUSTIN EDMONDS, GETTY IMAGES

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Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki throws to first base for the first out during the first inning on Sunday at Coors Field. JUSTIN EDMONDS, GETTY IMAGES

The Dodgers' Matt Kemp hits an RBI-single in the fifth inning on Sunday at Coors Field. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, AP

DENVER – The haves really rubbed it in on the have-nots this weekend.

Josh Beckett’s five scoreless innings Sunday set up the Dodgers for an 8-2 win over the pitching-starved Colorado Rockies.

The Dodgers took three out of four in the series with their starting pitchers in the three victories — Beckett and newly minted All-Stars Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw — allowing one earned run in 21 innings at notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field.

Beckett’s effort was the fifth time in their past 11 games a Dodgers starter has turned in a scoreless performance and the seventh time in Beckett’s 17 starts. The Dodgers left the town where ERAs go to get high still sporting the lowest of any starting rotation in baseball (3.03).

At the other end of the spectrum — way, way at the other end — the Colorado Rockies have used 13 starting pitchers to produce the worst ERA in baseball (5.34). Over their past 20 games, their starters’ ERA is a miserable 7.58 and their only three wins came in games started by Jorge De La Rosa, who beat the Dodgers on Saturday.

“This game is about pitching,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “I don’t know exactly what they (the Rockies) are going through. I know they’ve had some injuries and this is always a tough place to pitch. But we’ve talked about it all along — pitching is our strength. It’s what is going to get us where we want to go.”

There is some vulnerability to the Dodgers’ rotation, however. Dan Haren was roughed up for eight runs in the only loss of the weekend Saturday and has a 5.74 ERA over his past 10 starts. Beckett, meanwhile, is dealing with the dreaded “general soreness” — a condition known to most as the effects of aging.

Mattingly said Saturday that the days between Beckett’s starts recently have been a voyage of discovery, filled with uncertainty over whether Beckett will actually be able to pitch.

“It’s mainly my (left) hip — that and other things,” Beckett said. “The day I pitch, we’ve got some stuff I can take. That’s probably the best I feel all week.”

He felt spry enough to leg out a double (his third in his past two starts) and spark the Dodgers’ five-run fifth inning Sunday. But then he was nearly thrown out at third base on Dee Gordon’s single to left field and slid awkwardly into the base. Beckett said he “tweaked my hip” not on the slide but on his stop-and-go-back maneuver when he was unsure about Gordon’s hit falling in.

Beckett retired the Rockies in order in the bottom of the fifth, striking out two. But Mattingly said trainer Stan Conte pointed out a change in Beckett’s arm angle and he pulled him after five innings and just 82 pitches.

By then, the Dodgers had a 5-0 lead against the latest in the Rockies’ conga line of starting pitchers, left-hander Yohan Flande. The 28-year-old rookie got the call to the majors last month despite a 2-9 record and 4.42 ERA in Triple-A and an undistinguished 10-year minor-league career.

Flande flamed out in the five-run fifth that included Beckett’s double, a two-run single by Adrian Gonzalez, an RBI single by Matt Kemp (one of his four hits in the game) and a bases-loaded hit by pitch.

The Rockies’ bullpen is cringe-worthy as well and the Dodgers touched it up for three more runs in the eighth on an RBI double by Yasiel Puig, a run-scoring ground out by Gonzalez and another RBI single from Kemp.

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